BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1330
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1330 (Bloom) - As Amended April 27, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Utilities and Commerce |Vote:|9 - 5 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes an annual energy efficiency resource
standard for every retail seller of electricity and every gas
utility, and requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to
AB 1330
Page 2
convene a stakeholder process to determine how the energy
savings goals are measured and reported. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with
CEC, to supervise the implementation of this bill by community
choice aggregators, electrical service providers, and
electrical and gas corporations
2)Requires the governing board of each local publicly owned gas
utility, in consultation with the CEC to be responsible for
the implementation of this bill.
3)Requires each electricity retail seller to annually increase
the amount of energy efficiency resources to achieve not less
than 1.5% per year by 2020, and not less than 2% by 2025, as
specified. Requires the CEC in consultation with the Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) to adopt a cost limitation for each
retail seller to comply with this requirement.
4)Requires each gas utility to increase the amount of
incremental energy savings so that the total amount of
incremental energy savings achieved in any given year amounts
to .75% of total natural gas consumption by 2020 and not less
than 1% by 2025 as specified.
5)Requires the energy savings of retail electricity sellers and
gas utilities to first come from disadvantaged communities.
6)Requires all entities to annually file reports with the CEC as
specified.
AB 1330
Page 3
FISCAL EFFECT:
1) Net increase of annual costs to the PUC of $ 421,243
(special fund) and four PYs.
This bill adds some oversight task to the PUC but also shifts
some existing tasks to the CEC. This figure represents the net
increase of the bills requirements.
2) Increased annual cost of approximately $300,000 (Energy
Resources Program Account) for CEC to set targets, collect
data, and calculate savings for 44 publicly owned utilities.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, establishing an energy
efficiency resource standard will be a critical component in
meeting Californian's energy needs while at the same time
meeting the Governor's goals of increasing building efficiency
by 50%, increasing our renewable portfolio to 50% by 2030, and
reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.
An energy efficiency resource standard is a policy that
requires utilities or other entities to achieve a specified
amount of energy savings through energy efficiency programs
within a specified timeframe. These standards can require
electricity savings, natural gas savings, or both.
2)Governor's 2015 Inaugural Address. In the Governor's
AB 1330
Page 4
Inaugural Address on January 5, 2015, he called on the
following goals to continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions
beyond 2020 and by 2030:
Increase to 50% our electricity derived from
renewable sources (RPS).
Reduce today's petroleum use in cars and trucks by
up to 50%.
Double the efficiency of existing buildings and make
heating fuels cleaner.
1)Background. The PUC regulates ratepayer-funded energy
efficiency programs. The PUC works with the investor-owned
utilities, other program administrators, and vendors to
develop programs and measures to transform technology markets
within California using ratepayer funds.
The program requires that the portfolio of activities be cost
effective. The 2013-2014 energy efficiency program budgets
were slightly more than $2 billion. This does not include
additional funding to support low income households, which
includes a billing discount and no-cost energy efficiency
improvements and appliances for qualified low income
households.
Ratepayer-funded energy efficiency budgets are used to provide
incentives to encourage energy efficiency improvements over
and above current state energy efficiency regulations, conduct
research on areas where state efficiency standards can be
increased, measured and evaluated, marketing and outreach,
AB 1330
Page 5
government partnerships, and financing programs.
California's publicly owned utilities administer similar
programs, also funded by their ratepayers.
The CEC researches and ultimately adopts and enforces state
standards for building and appliance efficiency. The CEC
establishes first that its requirements are cost effective
before the requirements take effect. In some limited areas,
the CEC is preempted from establishing standards if the
Federal government has already enacted standards.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081